types of trees and wood

[motif]

I thought it would be very helpful if I knew more about types of trees and wood
so can you recommend any good book with pictures about it? Woodwork is very addictive
but I'd like to know what I'm cutting firstly because of curiosity and secondly because some
wood works better as firewood then other. Also I'm not sure but I have noticed root part of the tree
burns less effectively then the rest of the tree and since I gather a lot of stumps and cut them later in my garage
I'd like to know if it's good idea.  :P

[SwampDonkey]

Lots of books on tree ID and on wood properties and identifying wood by end grain. All kinds of that information in this forum as well. ;D You would likely end up with an least two types of books. One of them could be the Wood Handbook from the USDA website. A lot of technical stuff and theory that can be a bit over the top for a newbie. Good dry reading maybe. ;D Actually a complimentary book would be the Textbook of Wood Technology, which is out of print I believe. It has keys to ID wood species from the end grain of a board and goes into a whole lot of other things the Handbook might just skim over or not even mention. So, probably 3 books would get you closer to your goal. The first book might be something like the Textbook of Dendrology. :D There are similar books out their as well. A fourth book might be about "wood products and processing". ;)

[g_man]

If you want to know what tree you are looking at out in the woods or on a log pile then a simple field guide for trees might be helpful. They have lots of pictures of tree shapes, bark, leaves, and flowers/ fruit/nuts etc.. They are available at any book store in the nature or field guide section.

[Ianab]

Also be good to know where you are. I have some very good books on the various trees that grow in NZ, both the native and common introduced ones, but that's not a lot of use you  ;)

It's important to get one that's written for your State or Country or 3/4 of it will be useless.

Ian

[motif]

Also be good to know where you are. I have some very good books on the various trees that grow in NZ, both the native and common introduced ones, but that's not a lot of use you  ;)

It's important to get one that's written for your State or Country or 3/4 of it will be useless.

Ian

because of my work and likes I travel a lot so not looking for any details about specific species at some areas but more about some general/universal knowledge  about trees. I know there are for instance many types of pine trees here in Europe and different in America but pine is pine more or less right? I just recalled from school time info how to estimate age of the tree counting tree rings, nice but how to get that info before I cut the tree?

[SwampDonkey]

Increment borer. You turn a hollow screw with a sharp threaded tip into the trunk, insert a long thin steel spoon in the but of the borer, a couple turns to the left, pull the core out and count rings. ;D

Maybe a "Forest Mensuration" text will come in handy for some details on cruising timber. You can make some home made instruments for some things.

There are all kinds of threads in this forum on all this stuff. ;D

[Skiddah]

Manual of Woody Landscape Plants by Michael A. Dirr was considered the Bible for identification when I was in college.  I use the 5th Edition but apparently a 6th Edition has come out recently.  Since you're in New Jersey and Rutgers is a land grant university, they have a cooperative extention to help you.  In New Jersey it's called the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station.  Cooperative Extentions usually have county offices which are just brimming with information for you.  These are often under-utilized and are home to some of the best sources of information, best of yet, it's free!!  Check out their webpage to find the office near you.

[woodmills1]

look at the peterson guides


books under the name of roger tory peterson, though not all written by him

they cover specific areas and are avaliable for trees, shrubs, birds.......
always seemed easy to use to identify for me

[SwampDonkey]

Yes, Peterson's use some decent keys to group species and highlights the things that distinguish this one from the others. Could be hairs on the leaves to winged petioles (leaf stem).